News from around the South Bay area of Los Angeles by the staff of the Daily Breeze

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Monthly Archives: May 2010

Daily Breeze photo editor Chuck Bennett just posted his photo gallery of images taken at today’s annual Memorial Day tribute at Green Hills Cemetery. And you can read the full story now at the Daily Breeze website.

I’ve covered this event for the paper for several years running now and it’s always impressive — from the sky divers to the patriotic music and moving speeches, this is a first-class program that you really should take the time to attend if you haven’t already.

But it’s interviewing some of the families and individuals who attend that often moves me the most.

This year, as the crowd began to clear out, I spotted a woman sitting with an old Army jacket draped across her lap.

It was Veronica Michaelis who was accompanied by her children — John, Tom and Marilyn. All live in Carson except for Tom, who lives in Lomita.

The jacket?

That belonged to the family patriarch, Edward Lawrence Michaelis who served in Europe during World War II, collecting a host of decorations and awards (including one from the French government).

From spending three months in a fox hole to liberating a concentration camp, Michaelis saw more action — 10 campaigns altogether — than many of the U.S. troops that arrived later on the scene, his family told me.

Michaelis was single and living in Long Beach when he joined the Army after Pearl Harbor was attacked.

He served in North Africa and in many of the European centers of combat.

“He was there when the Americans arrived,” his son, John, said.

Edward Michaelis died in 1985 at the age of 65. The family told me they attend the RPV service each year to represent him and the service he gave to his country.

Son Tom served in Vietnam in 1968-69 during the Tet Offensive, and every year on Memorial Day Tom hangs both his and his dad’s service jackets out by way of reminder.

This year, it seemed appropriate, he said, to bring his father’s jacket with them to the Green Hills service.

I was struck by how tenderly Edward’s widow cradled the old jacket, smoothing out the olive green material and caressing the ribbons.

Few people leave the annual observance with dry eyes, me included. My dad and uncle both served in the Navy during World War II and I never fail to react when the band strikes up “Anchors Away.”

I took some of my own photos today (above & on the jump. But trust me. Chuck’s are much better on the Daily Breeze website. So be sure to check those out under our photo galleries.

A spokesman for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said this morning that the supervisor has not yet decided whether to support an economic boycott of Arizona over its controversial immigration law.

The Board of Supervisors will take up the issue on Tuesday, and Ridley-Thomas will be the deciding vote. Supervisors Don Knabe and Mike Antonovich are opposed; Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina, both of whom proposed the boycott, are in favor.

If approved, the county would join the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and others in banning travel and business with the state of Arizona, which passed SB 1070 this spring. Critics of law charge that it promotes racial profiling and targets the Latino population unfairly.

Dozens of residents in Hawthorne’s southwest corner have complained of stinky, discolored tap water that is causing rashes and other skin infections.The City Council moved on Tuesday to hold a town hall meeting between residents and the water supplier, Golden State Water, at 7 p.m. June 16 at Juan Cabrillo Elementary School, 5309 W. 135th Street.Residents in the city’s Holly Glen neighborhood — specifically the relatively new high-end condominium complex, Fusion at South Bay, say they have been struggling with water problems for months.“I experienced scabies,” one Fusion resident told the City Council. “I’ve also had other skin issues that I’ve been seeking treatment for. My towels smell like mildew. There’s a sulfur smell from the sinks in the bathroom.”Golden State Water Spokesman Shad Rezai said the company has already investigated the complaints and determined that it is due to internal plumbing at the Fusion complex. Residents contest that.“Some of the issues — internal plumbing — we’re not responsible for,” Rezai said. “We’re going to listen to their concerns. But most of the problems are occuring in the sink of one master bathroom.”

If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gets his way, the impact of losing the state’s CalWORKS program would have a devastating local impact, county officials say.

Less than a week after the release of the governor’s revised budget proposal, Los Angeles County tabulated the effect in the state’s most populous region. Among the findings:

* Monthly cash assistance for families who qualify, which averages $530, would immediately be cut for 415,000 residents — 321,000 of them children.

* The burden of providing assistance for these families would shift to counties. More families would qualify for LA County’s General Relief Program, which would cost the county $339.4 million next fiscal year.

* The number of homeless families would increase sharply. About 5 percent of families who receive welfare, about 8,000 families, are now homeless. That number could skyrocket to nearly 80,000.

* Unemployment would also rise. Termination of the welfare program would lead to elimination of 7,000 subsidized jobs created through a county contingency fund, and 4,400 county workers who administer the program. Parents, left with no child care, would also likely lose their jobs. Combined, this is expected to remove $1.7 billion a year from the local economy.

These rough figures are from the county’s chief executive office. Not surprisingly, many of the supervisors are released statements decrying the governor’s plan.

The Southern California Committee for a Parliament of the World’s Religions, a newly-formed off-shoot of the largest worldwide gathering of interfaith organizations, will honor a number of South Bay groups this Sunday.

The South Coast Interfaith Council is among the five Southern California organizations to receive praise for its work in promoting dialogue among people of different religions. The council includes churches, mosques, temples and others religious organizations in Long Beach, San Pedro and the South Bay area.

Globally, the Parliament of the World’s Religions is a big deal. In 1893, the organization held the first gathering of people of different religions – a historic event held in Chicago. The gatherings are still held every five years in various parts of the world.

A group of Southern California clergy and lay people decided to organize a similar gathering in the Los Angeles area. The first annual event will be held this Sunday at the Center for Spiritual Living in Redondo Beach. See www.sccpwr.org for more details.

In addition to honoring various groups, the event will include workshops and a keynote address by Rosemary Radford Ruether, a noted feminist theologian.

In case you haven’t heard about it or read my story, a Rolling Hills Estates resident reported seeing a mountain lion last week.

Rumors about big cats on the Palos Verdes Peninsula have surfaced repeatedly over the years, but definitive evidence has never proved the existence of a mountain lion. Authorities say it’s highly unlikely but not impossible that a cougar is roaming The Hill.

Today, I got an anonymous voicemail from a caller saying he too had seen the alleged mountain lion when driving through the area on Saturday night.

“I almost killed it on Palos Verdes Drive North,” the man said. “It had either killed something in the road or found some roadkill.”

Hundreds of Toyota employees from Torrance, their family members and friends will be heading to San Diego this Saturday to cheer on the Dodgers.

More than 600 people will take part in the annual trip. Nine buses will leave simultaneously from Norwalk, Gardena, Long Beach, Wilmington and Hawthorne at 11 a.m. and meet along the way to invade Petco Park, employee Anthony Gamboa said.

Saturday’s game is Armed Forces Day in San Diego. Fans will receive “Beat L.A.” t-shirts.

The Torrance group has printed more than 700 blue shirts that say “Beat the Padres,” and will pass some out to other Dodger fans in attendance.

“We are going to turn it into a huge Dodger day, family day,” Gamboa said. “We thought we could support our team and our city.”

The Beach Cities Health District is enlisting businesses, community groups, city governments and others to take a pledge promising to make healthy changes if the region is selected as a “Vitality City.”

The designation would bring national experts, media attention and funding to help the three cities embrace “blue zone” principles, which have been shown to lead to longer lives and lower health care costs.

Scientists found five regions of the country (see more at www.bluezones.com) where people appeared to live healthier and longer lives. The findings were published in a best-selling book, “The Blue Zones: Lessons for living longer from the people who have lived the longest.”

If Beach Cities is selected, it would be enrolled in a first-ever study beginning this fall to see how those principles of healthier living can be applied, and whether they work.

The application deadline is May 14, and the district should know soon after if they are a finalist. In the meantime, residents who want to make a pledge should send an e-mail with name, organization, and the message, “I support becoming a Vitality City,” to vitality@bchd.org. Check the district’s website for more information: www.bchd.org.

In the race for lieutenant governor, it looks like the San Francisco Chronicle also dismissed allegations being made by Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn’s campaign that her rival for the Democratic nomination, San Francisco Mayo Gavin Newsom, is ignoring problems within his city’s police department.

The Chronicle responded to those allegations the same way I did, when Hahn’s campaign manager, Michael Trujillo, called my personal cell phone at 10:10 p.m. Tuesday to unsuccessfully pitch me this same story.

The allegations being made by Hahn’s campaign come out the same week that the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Sacramento Bee endorsed Newsom over Hahn for the Democratic nomination.